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Penn State lands nineteen players on East-West Bowl watch list
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- Penn State lands nineteen players on East-West Bowl watch list
While the Penn State Nittany Lions lost a lot of production in the 2026 NFL Draft, fans were already questioning whether or not several of Penn State's returning options could be seen as draft picks in 2027. Well, after an offseason of change, there certainly seems like the Nittany Lions have a new look about them. So when the Shriners East-West Bowl watch list came out, it should have been no surprise that Penn State was well represented on the list.
Most importantly, it pointed out a major early win for new head coach Matt Campbell. Not only did Penn State place nineteen total players on the watch list, but fifteen of them were transfers from this year's portal cycle. In fact, thirteen of them come from Matt Campbell's former school, Iowa State . The headliners of the list include QB Rocco Becht , linebackers Kooper Ebel , Caleb Bacon , and Tony Rojas , and wide receivers Brett Eskildsen and Chase Sowell .
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The other two transfers on the list were influenced by new defensive coordinator D'Anton Lynn after he came to Happy Valley from UCLA . Still, no matter the former programs each player represented, it's still highly impressive that in his first offseason, Matt Campbell was able to bring over such highly coveted talent. While the main question will still be about his future recruiting efforts, this offseason's transfer haul at least showed signs of positivity in terms of the program's direction.
Perhaps the craziest thing about several of the players on the list is that they may not all enter the draft at the same time. At least five or six players could return to Happy Valley at the end of this season. That continuity could prove to be more important than any preseason hype these players are getting. If they are already receiving this hype with multiple years of eligibility left, that's a good sign for Campbell's long-term planning with the squad.
The bottom line is that a lot of people are still high on the new talent in Happy Valley. The question of whether that translates to on-field success remains to be seen.
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This article originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire: Penn State lands nineteen players on East-West Bowl watch list
